False rumors, ugly cities, and sharks: How meticulous research shaped Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Edward Kenway is a master assassin. He can slice targets with his two swords, shoot them with one of the flintlock pistols strapped to his chest, or take them down silently with his hidden blade. But all those tools and weapons mean nothing when he’s facing his greatest foe in the Caribbean Sea: the shark.

Sharks guard the lucrative shipwrecks scattered throughout Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (out on Oct. 29 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and later for next-gen consoles). Outside of designated harpoon zones, you can’t kill them — if they start attacking you, you can only fight them off long enough to swim away. It’s a thrilling inverse of the hunt-and-kill gameplay that the third-person action series is usually known for.